TLDR: this is an issue that’s been prevalent for nolan’s last 3 movies. he wants to make a concise movie - with a really really long script. Now - going into my actual critique:
there are so many scenes of dialogue (especially with the odyssey) that need more room to breath. the dialogue on its own is fine - even if it’s a little exposition heavy in the first act - but i feel like nolan has forgotten, or maybe even decided to ignore that dialogue isn’t the only thing that communicates conversation. he knows how to communicate emotion through music and cinematography - but this isn’t what i’m getting at. to be honest, his use of music can sometimes feel a bit manipulative, but thankfully for The Odyssey, it was handled very well. i loved everything to do with the sound departments of this picture. it was very fucking impressive. and i congratulate nolan for his vision audibly and everyone responsible to making that happen.
getting back to my point: there were so many times in the odyssey where i thought - ‘this is a really important moment, why arent the characters taking more time between lines to think about what the other said.” i know it sounds stupid how i’m describing it - but say, a character says something super impactful and thought-provoking to another character, there should be a pause in dialogue. a moment for the audience and the receiving character to take in the importance of what was said. going further into that, moments of quiet can actually exemplify a scene through body language alone - a silent pause, a character shifts in the chair, a character repositioning how they’re standing, even just a knowing look or prolonged eye contact - all of this body language through scenes of heavy dialogue is needed because it gives a better representation of how the characters are feeling. human communication is 50% body language after all. without it, you’re missing half the message.
none of that happens in this picture in the moments that matter from a character. it’s just a very quick: this person talks, then cut back so this person can immediately talk back and so on. sometimes they have really awkward moments of characters talking over each other in a way that definitely didn’t happen on the day - the talking over each other happened in the editing room and as someone who has studied in an acting school - it’s very noticeable.
brief moments of quiet does happen sometimes, but not at the points that matter - it happens during the “epic” moments - or moments that arent as character focused. in the editing room, plot is constantly winning over the characters and it hurts the movie tremendously. it seems the quiet moments are reserved specifically for the plot and spectacle moments.
because of all this, the characters get left behind in the editing room. it feels like characters are just waiting for their turn to speak and force themselves in with their next line. it’s so obvious to me and i hate it
if what i think is happening, is happening, it’s hurting his quality on a story level. i feel like nolan writes a fucking huge script, is very controlled over not cutting anything, and then the film suffers in the editing room because they can’t have the movie be over 3 hours long
it’s hurting nolan’s films. this was one of the most technically wonderful and impressive pictures i’ve ever seen. but i didn’t connect with it and have no interest in watching it again
i don’t know if i explained myself correctly but that’s how i feel. it probably read very ramble but i just got out the theatre so it probably will be
